Materials Needed

time

imagination

hard work

Instructions

Want to make your very own robot? The ZOOMers built their robot out of LEGO® bricks, and then programmed it to compete in a statewide robotics tournament. If you’re interested in doing the same, check out the FIRST LEGO® League Web site for more information.

Justin, age 9 of Paramount, CA wrote:
we start building Lego houses.

Andrew, age 8 of Thorndale, TX wrote:
I think it is super fun beacause if it is a rainey day it gives you some thing to do.

William, age 8 of Bronx, NY wrote:
I competed in the lego league 2008. I was in the newspaper and was on tv. With my partner my school won 3 awards. That was the best moment of my life. I tried it and it went great.

Janette, age 13 of El Paso, TX wrote:
I am in a Robotics Team! We really work hard, it requires a lot of hard work, teamwork, and imagination! Its really fun! Ive been to 3 competitions so far. My team was invited along with a few other teams to represent the U.S.A. in the European Open Competition in Denmark! Our hard work really payed off! when you work hard your bound to get far!

Gina wrote:
This is my second year on a First Lego League team. I think FLL is amazing! This year, my team won 1st place at regional and state and we are now going to attend the world competition. It's been so much fun throughout the season. If you're considering joining a FLL team, my advice to you is do it!!!

Shante, age 11 of Tucson, AZ wrote:
I was on a FIRST LEGO league team. We were the Sour Skittles. We did the Power Puzzle and it was really fun!

Joel, age 12 of Ypsilanti, MI wrote:
I am on the Lego Lords of Ypsilanti MI . We were recenly in Robofest (somthing like First) and we made it all the way to the international level and did pretty well. This year will be the 2nd time competing in FLL and will be making it to internationals this time too. Mabe if your good enough you will see me in alabama.

Cody, age 12 of Cumberland, VA wrote:
I'm happy to say evven though my old lego robotics team didn't get past the regiona in the ocean odessey that I will be joining another team and will probably have better chance of making it to state.

Jaime, age 12 of Budapest wrote:
This year (2006) was my third year doing LEGO Robotics. Both last year and this year ('05 and '06) our team won 1st place in the local tournament and did OK in the State tournament. Both times were really fun and I learned a lot.

Hannah, age 12 of Minneapolis, MN wrote:
My school has had it for a long time. I was on it for two years. It was really cool, especially at the tournaments. I love robots!

Louisa, age 11 of Carlton, OR wrote:
I did a class on this at a technology camp, and we split up on teams of two. First we just had to program our robot to go backwards and forwards for four seconds. Afterwards, we had to program it to go through a maze. We couldn't get our robot to go! Eventually it went though.

Chris, age 11 of Fort Myers, FL wrote:
This year our school started a lego group. Since we had so many kids that wanted to join we made two teams, the augaghosts (my team) and the sea dragons. We are in southwest florida so it was a hassle to get to tampa (3-hours away) but in he end it was whorth it. My team won the presitation award and my brothers team won the directors award. We when to state and won first place in reasherch. But when we went to state we combined our teams into one group (we had a better reasherch progect and they had a better robot).

Katie, age 12 of Yutan, NE wrote:
My brother, sister, and I made a robot with an arm to grab things and for the first competition, we got 2nd place in innovative design. The next competition, we got first in innovative design!

Kim, age 11 of Hamilton, OH wrote:
I was on a team this year, and we had to do some of the tasks under water. This is the third year our school has been able to compete at the state level! Hooray! Tip: Be as creative as you can with any part of the project.

Humza, age 10 of Latham, NY wrote:
My frist lego leugue class are make a robot made out of lego for the up coming tournement in albany and massechesit.

Kyle, age 13 of Coldspring, KY wrote:
When I was in the first lego league in 2005 it was great. The theme was no limits. For the project we had to make something completly accesible for all people. What we did was make a beverage machine completly accesible to everyone it is really cool.

Luke, age 14 of Little Egg Harbor wrote:
I didn't enter the First Lego League cometition, but my brother Barry and I love LEGOs, egineering, programming, and, best of all science! Working together we built out of our many Mindstorms sets, a crane that on our command can lift objects via a pulley system, and perform a program where it drops its cargo off a table! This was hard and challanging, but fun! I want to enter a LEGO competition and I think the Zoomers entering was awesome.

Anna, age 13 of Barrington, RI wrote:
Last year I joined the First Lego League at my school. We had to build a robot that would accomplish missions on a mode of Mars. The robot had to set of a catapolt, climb up a ramp, clear rocks, and much more. Though we only got in 8th place, we had lots of fun.

Clarizza, age 11 of Portland, OR wrote:
Last year I was in the lego league and in 4th grade. Our team was called "Clark Lego Lunatics" and we got in 2nd place for something I forgot and I don't think we did that well because I think we could've done better.

Katherine, age 13 of Richmond, VA wrote:
My school got a group together and we formed a lego team. We did it and only was it lots of fun but we found out that 4 wheel drive works the best for when we had to go up the stairs. It also came in handy when the robot smashed aganst the wall because of the four wheel drive it was preety sturdy. We also discovered that a forklift worked really good for all of our tasks.

Sina, age 11 of Jersey City, NJ wrote:
I competed in the first lego league, everyone were middle school students. I was in the 5th grade. I think we came in 5th place. We also won 2nd place sportsmanship award.

Amy, age 13 of Durham, NH wrote:
We competed in the NH states last year. We won 2nd place for teamwork. We hope to be there again this year!

Beatrice, age 13 of Plymouth, MI wrote:
We competed in a tornament in Michigan. We were just rookies so we didn't do too well, but we got the "Against all Odds" award. Thanks Mrs. B.!!!

Ryan, age 13 of Tualatin, OR wrote:
Last year some of my classmates competed in the FLL (First Lego Legue) Mission Mars Challenge. It was our first year and we won the rookie team award at our regional tournament. We went on to the state tournament where we placed 10th in the state. I can't wait untill next years challenge.

Cesar, age 5 of Houston, TX wrote:
I worked with my mother and we built a helicopter.

Brett, age 13 of Houston, TX wrote:
My Robotics team won the national research award last year. The competions was held in Houston that year. I had a great time and I met a lot of new freinds.

Emily, age 12 of Durham, NH wrote:
On my lego team there where seven girls. We made it to the states and we compeated against you! Also our pit area was right next to you. I really thought your robot was cool! We got second place for teamwork. We had a blast!

Brian, age 9 of Beaverton, OR wrote:
We had a great time! We learned how to build and program robots. We took 2nd place Rookie Team award in our state tournament!

Kimberly of North Lauderdale, FL wrote:
I participated in a first lego league challenge and I had to travel all the way to Melbourne for the state wide competition. My team placed 12th out of 40 teams. Not bad.